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Jackson: Blacks need to adopt their own 'Southern Strategy'
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - The Rev. Jesse Jackson told delegates to the NAACP convention Thursday that black Americans need to adopt their own "Southern Strategy" to help the Democratic Party recapture the White House and Congress next year.
"If we're going to regain the country we've got to win the South back," Jackson told several thousand delegates. "We cannot win unless we regain the South."
Jackson, a civil rights leader and the president of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, outlined the struggle of black Americans since the 17th century slave trade through the American Revolution, the Civil War and into the Civil Rights era of the 1950 and 1960s.
His speech was one of the closing events at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 94th annual convention. Jackson twice unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in the 1980s.
While the Republicans successfully adopted a Southern strategy in the 1960s and 1970s to woo white voters in the former Confederacy, Jackson said black voters in the South have enough clout to propel Democrats back to majority status.
"We'll win the White House back. We'll win the Congress back. We'll win our freedom back," Jackson shouted, with each of his sentences punctuated by the blare of an organ and cheers. "Justice! Justice! Justice!"
Jackson has traveled throughout the South this spring to work to register minority voters while addressing increasing poverty, the sluggish economy and criminal justice.
He was headlining a rally and march Friday in Montgomery, Ala., to target disenfranchisement laws for ex-offenders. Jackson noted that nearly 70 percent of Alabama's inmates are blacks and more than 80 percent are incarcerated on nonviolent drug charges.
Jackson decried the sentencing guidelines for narcotics, bringing a roar from the crowd when he said: "Unless you're Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter."
Noelle Bush is undergoing treatment after being arrested in January 2002 and charged with using a fraudulent prescription to try to obtain the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
"I think that Gov. Bush's daughter should have probation and rehabilitation. She's not dangerous, she's sick," Jackson said. "You need treatment and rehabilitation. She should not be in jail today but our brothers shouldn't be in jail."
A Bush spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
___
On the Net:
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition: http://www.rainbowpush.org/
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - The Rev. Jesse Jackson told delegates to the NAACP convention Thursday that black Americans need to adopt their own "Southern Strategy" to help the Democratic Party recapture the White House and Congress next year.
"If we're going to regain the country we've got to win the South back," Jackson told several thousand delegates. "We cannot win unless we regain the South."
Jackson, a civil rights leader and the president of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, outlined the struggle of black Americans since the 17th century slave trade through the American Revolution, the Civil War and into the Civil Rights era of the 1950 and 1960s.
His speech was one of the closing events at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 94th annual convention. Jackson twice unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in the 1980s.
While the Republicans successfully adopted a Southern strategy in the 1960s and 1970s to woo white voters in the former Confederacy, Jackson said black voters in the South have enough clout to propel Democrats back to majority status.
"We'll win the White House back. We'll win the Congress back. We'll win our freedom back," Jackson shouted, with each of his sentences punctuated by the blare of an organ and cheers. "Justice! Justice! Justice!"
Jackson has traveled throughout the South this spring to work to register minority voters while addressing increasing poverty, the sluggish economy and criminal justice.
He was headlining a rally and march Friday in Montgomery, Ala., to target disenfranchisement laws for ex-offenders. Jackson noted that nearly 70 percent of Alabama's inmates are blacks and more than 80 percent are incarcerated on nonviolent drug charges.
Jackson decried the sentencing guidelines for narcotics, bringing a roar from the crowd when he said: "Unless you're Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter."
Noelle Bush is undergoing treatment after being arrested in January 2002 and charged with using a fraudulent prescription to try to obtain the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.
"I think that Gov. Bush's daughter should have probation and rehabilitation. She's not dangerous, she's sick," Jackson said. "You need treatment and rehabilitation. She should not be in jail today but our brothers shouldn't be in jail."
A Bush spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
___
On the Net:
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition: http://www.rainbowpush.org/